


No Place I'd Rather Be

by Ahelpfulpeach



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Human Catra (She-Ra), Lesbian Disaster Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Disaster Catra (She-Ra), Love Confessions, Not Actually Unrequited Love, One Shot, POV Adora (She-Ra), POV Alternating, POV Catra (She-Ra), Prompt Fic, Roommates, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26176522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ahelpfulpeach/pseuds/Ahelpfulpeach
Summary: Catra drags Adora on a night hike, they are both utterly caught up in each other, and everyone is a dork.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 236





	No Place I'd Rather Be

**Author's Note:**

> This is another one of the Tumblr dialogue prompts, "We could get arrested for this," but I expanded it a bit.   
> Something sweet and fluffy and dorky for y'all.
> 
> Hoping to be posting once a week, but it will depend on my wrists and how busy school gets.

It was dark when they reached the park. Which was, you know, the point of a night hike, but Adora couldn’t help the way her eyes lingered on the “Park Hours: Sunrise to Sunset” sign next to the closed gate. It was the sort meant to keep cars out, not people, but still.

“Dude, you coming?”

Already past the gate, illuminated only by the moonlight, Catra was waiting for her. Her hair, already getting frizzy in the humidity, left her face in shadow, but Adora could imagine the look on her face. Impatient, smug, and the tiniest bit fond, or at least amused. She hoped.

“Yeah, sorry,” Adora called, jogging to catch up. Closer now, she could see the grin on Catra’s face, the way she was almost bouncing on the balls of her feet. Not quite, and not very noticeably, Catra would _never_ let that cool, suave, unaffected mask down completely, but Adora had knew her well enough to catch glimpses. Live together as long as they had and it was basically inevitable, she reasoned, but Adora still felt a little pride that she was the only one of their friends to see Catra cry during a movie, or light up at the announcement of a new book in her favorite series.

And she’d been so excited when she proposed the idea—well, more like when she grabbed Adora’s arm and dragged her out the door. But same sort of thing with Catra, really; why talk when you could just _go_? In any case, her enthusiasm both then and now was charming and distracting enough to take her mind off the sign.

“You’re fine, come on,” Catra laughed, taking hold of her wrist again. Hardly necessary these days, Adora found herself following her around like a lost puppy more often than not. And apparently, as Glimmer _loved_ to point out, she’d been doing that pretty much since they met. She protested, but Bow backed her up, and two against one never worked out in Adora’s favor. Especially when they were right.

Necessary or not, Adora wasn’t going to begrudge the point of contact.

In fact, she was going to fixate on it, on the warmth, Catra’s soft skin and the callouses on her fingertips, on how badly she wanted to shift and twine their fingers. She almost did; some strange surge of courage brought on by the relative privacy the darkness afforded had Adora shifting her hand ever so slightly. Catra’s grip was loose enough that she _almost_ had their hands parallel to each other when they reached the wooded section of the path and were plunged into deeper darkness. Catra let her go in favor of fiddling with her flashlight, prompting Adora to do the same, cheeks heating up.

“We could get arrested for this,” Adora mumbled, nerves demanding she fill the silence somehow, “It’s, like, trespassing right? Since the sign-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Catra cut her off, “I did this all the time as a kid. No one enforces that shit.”

A part of her wasn’t so sure, but Catra seemed pretty confident, and she knew this place better than Adora did.

“If you say so.”

“I do, so quit overthinking things, I can practically hear it.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Adora gave her best, entirely overzealous salute, drawing a laugh from her friend. God. Such a cute laugh, all squeaky and high and breathy.

...She really hoped Catra couldn’t _actually_ hear her thoughts.

As they kept walking, Adora’s nerves settled a little. It was exciting, getting to see this little glimpse into the past. Catra didn’t talk about her childhood much, other than mentioning she’d moved several times. That was always her icebreaker in college, when Adora could convince her to come to syllabus days, anyway. Adora couldn’t fault her for it, hers was her deadlift record, and no one outside of Catra, Glimmer, and Bow even knew the name of her hometown.

Over late night conversations, however, when they were a little too tired or too drunk—or both—to keep their walls up, bits slipped through. Adora treasured every piece of Catra she was given access to, and this was no different. Moving to this town at all, even if it was for Catra’s job, had been a massive display of trust. But getting to see some of her childhood hideaways? That was… something else. The sort of something that made her heart clench and her whole body ache to reach out.

She didn’t.

Instead, Adora realized she’d been staring, probably this whole time. Face going red, she tore her gaze away, focusing instead on her own feet. Sure, Catra was _beautiful_ , but that didn’t excuse leering at her. She looked up again, an apology on her tongue even though she hadn’t been caught-

Catra was in the middle of sweeping her hair off her neck, pulling it into a ponytail to get whatever relief she could from the muggy night air. A totally normal thing, something Adora had seen a million times for a million reasons, but of course _now_ she was dumbstruck and staring. Again. Because the subtle definition of her arms was emphasized by the harsh shadows cast by their flashlights, and her tank top took the arm hole part of a shirt to its logical extreme, giving an unobstructed view of smooth brown skin and freckles and the band of her bra and she _really_ needed to look away-

It was about then Adora walked headfirst into a tree. Karma, she supposed as she stumbled back with a groan, for ogling her best friend.

“Holy shit, are you okay?” Somehow, Catra sounded both genuinely concerned and utterly delighted by her plight.

“’m good,” Adora mumbled. Her pride was a little wounded, but the side of her face caught the majority of the blow and nothing seemed to be bleeding.

“Good,” Catra was still smirking, but her tone was relieved.

Adora felt a matching grin settle on her face, packing away wishful thoughts of hand holding and tracing constellations in Catra’s freckles, “Aww, look at you all worried for me.”

“Shut up,” Catra’s voice cracked a little as she turned away in a huff, “I just didn’t want to have to carry your dumb ass back to the apartment if you got a concussion or something.”

“It’s cute that you think you could.”

Catra rolled her eyes, bumping Adora off balance with her shoulder, “Whatever. You’re a fucking dork.”

Bumping her right back—and nearly sending her into the bushes off the path by accident—Adora laughed, “And yet you keep me around.”

“You’re useful for getting things off high shelves.”

“No shelves in the woods, Catra.”

“Says you.”

“Careful. Keep up weak excuses like that, and I might think you like me.”

A joke and a plea in one. It was fun, gave her a rush like just about nothing else, but at the end of the day, this weird pseudo-flirting was just that. Fake. And honestly, Adora wasn’t sure how much more of it her heart could take.

At first it had been a joke, playful teasing about scoring a negative time on dating to U-Hauling, calling outings with Bow and Glimmer double dates, suggesting they have Sea Hawk marry them on his little pontoon for tax benefits. A sort of performance for their friends, a running gag.

And then it started bleeding over into moments alone. Catra leaning on her a bit while they watched TV. Leaving notes for Catra, wishing her a good morning and good day at work after Adora returned from her late shifts. Flirting even when no one was there to see-

“Might? Damn, I need to try harder then.”

Like that. It was clearly a joke, but Adora’s heart was still racing with an ever hopeful, ‘What if?’

“Maybe this will do it for you,” Catra continued, leading them out of the trees.

* * *

Catra clicked off her flashlight, hearing Adora follow suit. In retrospect, it probably would have been a good idea to do that a little sooner. Let their eyes get adjusted and all that. But even with only the moonlight and stars to see her by, the look on Adora’s face was everything she’d hoped for.

Adora was _beaming_. The sort of unrestrained joy that lit her up, made her glow. Almost immediately she moved towards one of the boulders along the water’s edge, like Catra figured she might, and sat down. It made a pretty picture, Adora staring up at the stars that were reflected in the lake in front of her, cross-legged and teetering backwards, utterly awestruck.

A sense of relief washed over Catra; she got it right.

Catra hopped up onto the rock beside her, resting her chin on her knees, mostly watching Adora. She’d seen this view before. Sure, it was great, stars and nature and stuff, but that was what _Adora_ was here for, whether or not she knew it at the start of the hike. A tiny, hopeful spark settled in Catra’s chest. Adora _didn’t_ know this view was waiting for her at the end of the hike. Just that she had grabbed her arm and said, “Come with me.” That was enough.

That was what Catra was here for.

Suddenly, that brilliant smile was directed at her, and Catra had to fight to keep from falling off their perch.

“Catra, this is amazing.”

It wasn’t like Adora was a particularly insincere person, but _damn_ , Catra had never heard her sound like that. Soft and breathy and… reverent, almost. Certainly never heard her say her _name_ like that. (She really wanted to hear it again. Over and over and over-)

“Like I said, I came out here all the time as a kid,” Catra fought to keep her voice level, nonchalant. She wasn’t going to fuck this up, scare Adora off with how much she was feeling. Had been feeling. For years.

“And some news thing came up on my phone and said tonight would be good for stargazing. And you’re into that stuff, so. Thought you’d like it.”

A blatant lie. Catra had been keeping an eye on forums for a couple weeks. Been planning this for a couple weeks longer. To what end… well, she knew what end she was hoping for. What Catra was uncertain of was whether she had the guts to go through with it.

For a moment, Adora looked like she was going to say something, only to shut her mouth and just nod. She leaned back, stretching a little as she settled on her back to get a better look at the sky. Catra followed suit, nearly slamming her head against the stone in her haste to break her gaze from Adora’s… everything.

“You know any constellations?” Adora asked, apparently unaware of the distress the strip of skin between her t-shirt and waistband was causing.

“Big Dipper. And the Little Dipper. And I know the astrology signs are up there but I don’t have a clue what they look like.”

If she could have sunk into the rock, Catra happily would have. She’d wanted to sound at least a _little_ more informed. But panic set in and-

Panic quickly increased as Adora shuffled herself closer, until their sides were touching. Not pressed together, not quite. But there was definite contact and Catra was positive she was going to lose her mind.

“Uh-”

“Here, I can show you,” Adora said, all cheerful and excited and kind of whispering? Why was she whispering?

“Right, uh. Go for it.” Why was _she_ whispering now too? There was no one there! And it felt weirdly intimate and soft and Catra was _not_ soft. She was cool. Suave. Not blushing like a teenager because she could feel Adora’s chest rise and fall with every breath.

For a few minutes, though, that seemed to be the end of it. Adora settled into drawing shapes between stars that looked nothing like what they were supposed to, and Catra relaxed a bit. Okay. Not so new. They’d sorta cuddled on the couch at their place and at parties and shit. And despite the bizarre intimacy of the unnecessary whispering, Adora’s voice was soothing. Her heart rate was probably somewhere in the realm of normal again.

That lasted all of a minute or so.

Then Adora moved her arm. The one between them. The one doing all the pointing. And she moved it behind Catra’s head. And she bent her arm to keep pointing things out, kinda pulling her closer. And she tilted her head a little, resting her cheek against the top of Catra’s head, apparently trying to get as close to the same line of sight as she could while she pointed at an archer that looked nothing like an archer.

And Catra _tried_ to listen, really she did. She knew this stuff was important to Adora, that was the whole reason she brought her out here in the first place. But also her head was resting on Adora’s wonderfully muscular shoulder and her whole side was pressed against her and her face was _so close_.

So of course all she could think about was how much closer she wanted her to be.

“You okay?” Adora asked, because that was a pretty normal thing to ask when someone basically stopped breathing and went stiff as a board.

“Mmhmm,” Catra answered, because yeah. This was like. Exactly how she had kind of hoped and imagined this would go? But also holy shit she’d underestimated her own nerves.

She wanted to shake herself out of it. Wanted to turn and grin and say something witty, and watch Adora’s face go red. Wanted to watch her stammer and squirm because she was so easy to fluster sometimes, and it was adorable. Catra had _wanted_ to settle her with a finger against Adora’s lips, and smile at her and let herself be seen. Take a moment to just trust her best friend to see how she felt before she said it…

Instead, she was practically paralyzed by Adora’s proximity and her feelings and her nerves. So much for that plan.

* * *

It was about then that Adora realized what she’d done, and more accurately, the position she’d put them in.

“Oh. Shit. Sorry,” was about all that was able to escape from the absolute mess her mind was in. Forget losing a train of thought, the train of thought was on fire. The station was on fire. The whole damn railway system was on fire.

Obviously Adora hadn’t _meant_ to trap Catra in a stargazing cuddle pile, and she _certainly_ didn’t mean to make her as uncomfortable as she clearly was. As soon as the disaster zone that was her brain allowed her, she slowly started extricating herself, not wanting to just, like, push Catra off her, but also not wanting to keep her there when she clearly didn’t want to be.

Jaw clenched against the burning in her eyes—it was dumb, this _didn’t_ warrant crying, she’d apologize, it would be okay—Adora shifted to try to put some distance between their bodies. It was just, goddammit, she’d been trying to avoid _exactly this_ since she first realized the “silly little roommate crush” was veering dangerously towards “falling in love with someone who h as become your best friend.” Making Catra uncomfortable, putting her attraction before Catra’s feelings, make her feel obligated to do _anything_ -

“Hold on,” Catra’s voice was strained, but her body started relaxing against her, not at all moving the way Adora was trying to get her to.

“I didn’t mean to trap you like that-”

Catra’s hand whipped out, gripping the arm she was still trying to wiggle out from under her.

“Adora, _h_ _old on_. I’m freaking out because I’m gay, not because you fucked up. Just. Give me a sec.”

Adora was… confused. Dumbstruck. Suddenly things were thrust into a different light, one that suggested their flirting had been a lot less one-sided than she’d originally thought. That someone—that _Catra_ , who was an absolute genius and stunningly beautiful and so talented and could sing and play guitar and did amazingly thoughtful things like this—was maybe feeling something for _her_ of all people.

Catra shifted then, flipping over to lean on an elbow, so they could actually see each other. For a moment, her eyes seemed to search Adora’s, and Adora had a difficult time avoiding getting lost in them, even in the midst of the _everything_ that was happening. Then her expression softened to something Adora hadn’t ever seen before, not sustained anyway. There had been glimpses here and there, half smothered or so fleeting she was sure she imagined it, but there was no denying this.

Once she powered through that initial shock, Adora felt herself melt, hoping her expression would convey the words that seemed utterly beyond her power at the moment. The way Catra’s smile grew indicated she might have been understood, and god she felt, well, she felt _a lot_. But giddiness crept up and overtook everything and suddenly they were both laughing, Catra’s fingers digging into her arm like an anchor as Adora wrapped it around her, tugging her close

“We’re idiots.”

Between giggles, Adora managed to squeak out a, “Yeah.”

They both sounded a little hysterical as they clung to each other, shaking with the relief of years of tension _finally_ being released.

As their laughter subsided, Catra settled again, half on top of her, head back on her shoulder. Adora hoped she’d stay there, it felt right.

“I love you,” Adora said quietly; it came easier than she had expected, not blurted or forced out in a rush. She was relaxed, smiling as she said it. Maybe it was unnecessary, but they _had_ just spent the better part of four years pining over each other because they hadn’t said anything, so, better safe than sorry.

“I love you too.” Catra had been smiling too, she could tell. Not by sight, the angle was wrong, but because she couldn’t stop even as she drew their lips together.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit (and I also quite like Jasmine Thompson's cover)
> 
> It's hinted at a little in the fic, but just for clarification, Adora and Catra met during junior year of college as randomly assigned roommates 'cause sometimes res life is a bitch even when you're an upperclassman. They hit it off and stayed friends and roomies even after graduating. Also Catra moved around a lot as a kid and wound up with multiple different caregivers over the years instead of just Shadow Weaver, which is why moving back to a town she lived in as a child isn't as traumatizing as it might otherwise be :D


End file.
